Brassiere



Dec. 11, 1956 T. B. SCHAUMER BRASSIERE Filed Nov. 14, 1955 7/150 .3. SC ZZZZZZEQ,

United States Patent BRASSKERE Theo B. Schaumer, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Hollywood-Maxwell Co., Los Angeles, Caliii, a corporation of California Application November 14, 1955, Serial No. 546,432

3 Claims. (Ci. 2-42) This invention relate to brassieres.

Srassieres of the usual design are formed with cups adapted to accommodate the breasts. Often such cups are reinforced, so as to provide the desired supporting effect.

It is one of the objects of this invention to provide a breast support in which the supporting function is effected by the shoulder straps. Thus these shoulder straps not only hold the brassiere in place, but serve as well for lifting the cups.

The invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of one embodiment of the inven tion. For this purpose, there is shown a form in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the present specification. This form will now be described in detail, illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that this detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of this invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a pictorial view, showing a brassiere incorporating the invention in place upon a wearer;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front view of the brassiere;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along a plane corresponding to line 3--3 of Pig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken along a plane corresponding to line 44 of Fig. 2.

The brassiere includes a body encircling member 1, made of any appropriate fabric or lace. It may be provided at one of its ends with an elastic member 2 capable of being detachably joined to the opposite end of the member 1, in a well understood manner.

The body encircling member 1 may be provided with a tape member 3 at its lower edge and a similar tape member 4 at its upper edge.

A pair of cup structures 5 and 6 is provided, the upper edges 7 and 8 of these cup members forming continuations of the upper edge of the body encircling member 1. in this instance, the cup member is shown as including a lower portion 9 and two upper side members it and 11. The apex of the cup i located substantialiy at the common meeting point of the portion 9 and members It) and 11.

Except for the upper edge 7, the cup member is attached as by sewing to an appropriately formed opening in the body encircling member 1. For example, this can be accomplished by the aid of a tape 12 (Fig. 3) which also serves to embed an arcuate wire reinforcement member 13. This wire reinforcement member extends around the lower edge of the cup 5, which lower edge is sewn to the body encircling member 1.

Overlying the exterior lower portion of each cup is a supporter 14 or 15. Each of these supporters is of generally crescent shape, and may be made of multi-ply material, such as fleece-backed satin or the like. This backing lends some degree of stiffness to the supporters. They are each attached at their lower edges, to the lower edges of the cups 5 and 6. They are otherwise unattached to the cups (Fig. 3). The inner ends 16 and 17 of these members 14 and approach quite closely together at the central portion of the garment. The opposite ends are shown as integrally formed with the shoulder straps 18 and 19. The free ends of these shoulder straps may be attached as indicated by reference character 20 to the rear portion of the body encircling member 1, preferably by the aid of a buckle.

Preferably, as shown most clearly in Figs. 1 and 4, the supporters 14 and 15 are attached to the respective cup edges only as far as a point 21, leaving the shoulder straps beyond this point unattached to the body encircling member It. This point is located no further upward than the cup apex.

The combination of the straps 18 and 19 with the pendent bust supporters 14 and 15 joined to the shoulder straps, provides a highly efficient bust control. The upward pull of the straps is exerted upon the lower edges of cups 5 and 6, since the supporters 14, 15 are joined only to these lower edges. Accordingly, an adequate uplift effect is effected.

The inventor claims:

1. A brassiere comprising a body encircling member, a pair of breast cups in said member each having a depending essentially arcuate periphery portion, a pair of substantially crescent shaped breast supporters having essentially arcuate convex and concave edges, one supporter associated with each of said cups exteriorly thereof, said supporters being fixedly secured to the brassiere only along said depending peripheries of the cups by the convex edges of the supporters, with the concave edges thereof facing generally upwardly and being unattached to the cups, each supporter thereby overlying a portion of each cup with one end adjacent an inner portion of the respective cup and the other end adjacent an outer portion of the respective cup, and a pair of shoulder straps each connected directly at one end to the outward portion only of a respective supporter and being otherwise unattached to said cups, said straps substantially forming continuations of both said edges of the supporters, said shoulder straps being joined at their other ends to the body encircling member.

2. A brassiere as defined in claim 1, and further including an essentially arcuate reinforcing stiffener adjacent each said depending periphery.

3. A brassiere comprising a body encircling member, a pair of breast cups in said member each having a depending essentially arcuate periphery portion, and a pair of substantially crescent shaped breast supporters having essentially arcuate convex and concave edges, one supporter associated with each of said cups exteriorly thereof, said supporters being fixedly secured to the brassiere only along said depending peripheries of the cups by the convex edges of the supporters, with the concave edges facing generally upwardly and being unattached to the cups, each supporter thereby overlying a portion of each cup with one end adjacent an inner portion of the respective cup and the other end adjacent an outer portion of the respective cup, a pair of shoulder straps, said straps being integral continuations of the outward portions of said supporters and being joined at their terminal ends to the body encircling member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 494,397 Tucek Mar. 28, 1893 2,149,819 Rubenstein Mar. 7, 1939 2,346,411 Becker et a1 Apr. 11, 1944 2,388,535 Gluckin Nov. 6, 1945 2,388,757 Miller Nov. 13, 1945 2,437,541 Koret Mar, 9, 1948 2,457,928 Silva Ian. 4, 1949 2,533,060 Silvain Dec. 5, 1950 2,578,954 Van Leuven Dec. 18, 1951 2,734,193 Croxall Feb. 14, 1956 

